Search This Blog

Cellphones in Screenplays

Cellphones are in screenplays and why not? They are the current means of communications.But cellphones under the pillow? Maybe I’ve
been consuming a lot of Yoruba movies, where one of the two characters sleeps with
a cellphone under the pillow.What did my English teacher say?Two is company, three's a crowd.Where’s
the calculator?Let’s add up the
situation on the bed.It is three human
beings because the caller will the third person.

The ideal situation should be like in theatres where we are
told to switch off cellphones.The
bedroom is even a more sensitive platform.Parents lock the door to keep kids out because they don’t want them to be
spectators of the Wimbledon final singles’ match.

Fine.Even if there
are no kids around, what will happen if the phone rings when the match is in
progress?Someone will pick it up.That is why the person brought it to the bed
and put it under the pillow.Right?What I have seen so far in Yoruba movies is that the owner takes
the call and tip toe out of the room.But
what happens if the phone rings and somebody is serving for the match?

“I’ll call you
back.I’m in the middle of something.”

I don’t know which grounds for divorce or break-up of the relationship,
the aggrieved party will use.Is it
taking the call during the match or the promise to call the unauthorised umpire
back?Nonqaba waka Msimang
is the author of Sweetness, a South African novel.